Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Brownsville

Superman was an undocumented immigrant. Separated from his parents, he was sent to this planet by parents who only wished that their child would be safe and happy. John and Martha Kent, Kansas farmers, raised the tyke they found crashed in their field as their own. They changed his name to keep him from being easily noticed by his Kryptonian handle, Kal-El. If Homeland Security had known that there was a foreign national living in secret, capable of mass destruction just by staring at something, I'm sure they would have swooped in and taken him away in some sort of super-restraints, leaving John and Martha crying on their front porch. Much in the same way Lara and Jor-El stood and watched that rocket carry their only son into space while their planet crumbled around them.
But ICE agents never showed up in Smallville. Even though there were all those crazy stories about school buses being pulled out of a raging stream and fires being extinguished in a single rush of air, almost as if they had been blown out like a birthday candle.
To his credit, "Clark Kent" did his best to assimilate. He got himself a real job and a pair of glasses, and went to work reporting on the very feats of heroism he was secretly doing in his cape and long johns. For this, he was admired and respected, though "Clark" never received the respect and admiration afforded his secret identity. Superman stood for truth, justice, and the American Way, and yet he was living a lie. He was out there, nominally risking his life for a country that was regularly uncomfortable with the idea of his existence.
Here is my wish: There are thousands of children being held in camps across the southwest. Maybe just one of them has mutant powers that would enable them to overcome their captivity. Maybe they could break free and find themselves a pair of horn-rimmed glasses to disguise themselves just enough to keep away that unwanted attention. They could become part of our American society and live productive lives of truth, justice and the American Way. But first they have to break out. I want to be there when the ICE agents show up and find a great big hole blasted through the side of the Wal-Mart where the alien children spilled out after some or all of them had enough.
And I hope they're afraid of what might happen next.